Southampton House

This pavilion-like house in the Hamptons is set on a peninsula with dual Janus-like views facing the Atlantic Ocean and Shinnecock Bay. An overarching limestone frame creates a sun porch facing south-east, with a wide cantilevered brise-soleil. On the Bay side, protruding teak clad volumes extend out in contrast to the void of the Ocean porch. The house is long and low, its horizontal lines echoing the Ocean and sandy color limestone recalling the color of the beach and dunes. As the best views are on the second level, a double height stair hall lifts one up to the main floor, with an open living, dining and kitchen; along with the master and two girls bedrooms. The pool is elevated to this level and a wooden walkway following the contours of the dunes leads to the Ocean. The lower level includes a media-game room and guest bedrooms. The roof top is an open terrace that recalls the modernist dream of a house as a ship, conveying the sense of being on an ocean liner. An outdoor fireplace and all vents and exhaust stacks are bundled together to create sculptural forms that stand out against the horizon of the ocean. A crushed glass edge frames the wood terrace further extending the sense of floating between sea and sky.